Japanese patent application publication No. 2001-101091 describes a system that includes a client, a proxy server, and a printer. In this system, the client transmits the URL for a file to be printed and a print command to the printer. The printer transfers the file URL to a proxy server. The proxy server acquires the file identified by the URL from a file server and returns this file to the printer. The printer then performs a printing operation based on the file received from the proxy server.